The Team.
Our group includes a diverse and dynamic range of scientists, from undergraduate and post-undergraduate interns, to technicians with decades of experience, to post-docs and PIs. We'd love to have you join us!
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The post-docs and research associates.
Dr. Bin WangThinking globally, Bin strives to understand biosphere-atmosphere interactions in the Earth System—how the biosphere responds and feeds back to the atmosphere with respect to physical climate and atmospheric components.
Acting locally, Bin studies how natural systems assemble and function, encompassing forest, microbiome, and soil systems, with an eventual goal of disentangling their interactions with environment as an integrated ecosystem. In an increasingly interdisciplinary and data-rich world, these explorations across organizational and spatial-temporal scales are philosophically guided by complex systems theory and methodologically conducted by applying interwoven theory- (e.g., mechanistic models) and data-driven approaches (e.g., data science techniques). In short, Bin is data-model-learning the complexity and simplicity of nature. Bin started as a post-doc in 2021, mentored by Dr. Dan Ricciuto and co-mentored by Colleen. He is modelling root systems complexity in Earth System models. |
Dr. Camille DefrenneCamille's research focuses on unraveling root and mycorrhizal fungal dynamics in a warming peatland using novel techniques such as automated minirhizotrons.
At age 7, Camille promised herself she would be a paleontologist. She is now digging in the soil, not looking for dinosaurs’ bones, admittedly, but looking for something equally fascinating: roots and mycorrhizal fungi. After getting an Engineer's diploma in Agronomy in France, she got her PhD in Forestry at the University of British Columbia. During her PhD, she showed that Douglas-fir fine roots adjust to colder or drier environments by modifying their morphology to increase their absorptive capacity. She also found that the way mycorrhizal fungal explore the soil is affected by climate. Camille was a post-doc in our group from 2019 - 2021, working on the SPRUCE experiment. She is now at Michigan Tech, working with Dr. Erik Lilleskov on the PEATCosm experiment! |
Dr. Yao LiuYao is a global change ecologist and quantitative plant ecologist. Her research primarily focuses on temporal changes in ecological systems. These studies span a wide range of time scales, from ecological memory on the orders of days to decades, to ecosystem transformations over tens of thousands of years. She is also interested in the co-variation and interaction among major components of the biosphere (e.g. aboveground vs. belowground parts). Common to the diverse topics is the use of quantitative approaches, including Bayesian statistics, mathematical models, and information theory, to address fundamental questions in ecology.
Yao was a post-doc from 2018 - 2020, where she was mentored by Dr. Anthony Walker and collaborated closely with our group. She is working on modeling the timing and rate of fine-root production at ORNL FACE, as well as assessing phylogenetic, environmental, and mycorrhizal controls on the variation of fine-root traits in the FRED root trait database. |
Dr. Avni MalhotraAvni's research focuses on the multi-scale effects of disturbance on ecosystem structure and function. She is interested in the influence of disturbances such as drought, permafrost thaw, and warming on above- and belowground plant dynamics, greenhouse gas fluxes, and litter decomposition. She is also interested in regional to global-scale drivers of carbon sequestration.
Avni was a post-doc with our group from 2016 - 2018, working on the SPRUCE experiment. She's now in the Department of Geography at the University of Zurich. |
Dr. M. Luke McCormackLuke is interested in how natural and human-induced factors impact and change terrestrial ecosystems. While his work demonstrates a particular interest belowground, his overarching goal is to provide insight into how belowground processes connect with and act as part of a larger whole.
Luke was part of our group from 2017 - 2018, where he joined us as a co-PI on the FRED project. He started a cool job at the Morton Arboretum in 2018 but we still claim him as our own! |
Dr. Verity SalmonVerity’s research focuses on nitrogen cycling within rapidly warming arctic ecosystems. Her field work is based in Alaska through the NGEE Arctic project and investigates variation in root traits across arctic plant communities, symbiotic nitrogen fixation by alder shrubs, and plant uptake of nitrogen in response to short-term warming.
Verity was a post-doc with our group from 2016 - 2019, working on the NGEE Arctic project. |
The technicians.
Joanne ChildsJoanne is our root expert and minirhizotron guru. She has been tracing roots in minirhizotron images since before you were born...literally. She also runs the ecology labs and keeps everyone in line, and travels to Alaska, Minnesota, Puerto Rico, and Brazil to measure everything from physiology to moss growth to soil nutrient availability.
Joanne has been part of our group since before there was a group. |
John LatimerJohn is a renaissance man. He hosts a weekly 'phenology' radio show on for KAXE in Grand Rapids, MN. He used to be a rural mail carrier. Oh, and in his free time he is also a major part of the SPRUCE experimental team, where he collects minirhizotron images and ion-exchange resins, as well as observations of plant phenology.
John has been part of our group since 2014. |
Geoff SchwanerGeoff is the isotope guy. In the lab, he encourages the group's mass spectrometer and element analyzers to behave themselves. In the field, he enjoys soil collections and lugging heavy objects around. He has traveled to Minnesota and Alaska for the collection of soil, litter, and Sphagnum mosses, and to help perform C13 labeling experiments.
Geoff joined the group in 2021. |
The post-undergraduate interns.
A. Shafer PowellShafer is single-handedly responsible for the data input into the Fine-Root Ecology Database (FRED). That's more than 1 million data points! He's also responsible for the name 'FRED', though the 'F' was originally for 'Fantastic'.
Shafer was a part of the lab from 2014 - 2018; he took a break for a year for a cool job at ORNL's NASA DAAC and to start an MS program in Data Informatics, but we're happy to have him back with us in 2019! |
Ingrid SletteIngrid worked with us on the NGEE Arctic project, where she headed up a project related to how tundra plants access nitrogen throughout the soil profile. Her root-picking game was on point, and she was a lot of fun to have along in the field.
Ingrid was part of our group from 2013 - 2014; she's now a graduate student in Alan Knapp's lab at Colorado State University. She still loves roots, but she's now focused on prairie ecosystems. |
Holly Vander StelHolly was our right-hand person and the foundation of our research success. Need a sharpie? Ask Holly. Need to know where are the samples are and when they were processed? Ask Holly. She worked on projects from the tundra to the tropics, and loved to travel for field work.
Holly was part of our group from 2014 - 2018; she's now got a cool job at the Kellogg Biological Station! |
The undergraduate interns.
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
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Melissa Demmitt
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Jennifer (Katie) Baer
Ella Johnson Jordan Woodward |
2018Stephanie Letourneau
Abbygail Ochs Parker Phillips |
2017Rita Keil
Emily Kraeske Abbygail Ochs Lindsey Rasnake |
2016Logan Owens
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2015Julie Adkins
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2014 |
2013Alana Burnham
Allison Mihalczo Sarah Wood |
2012 |
2011Lauren Breza
Claire Campbell |
2005-2010Zara Berg
Jennifer Burks Caroline DeVan Heather Henderson Joey Roberts Lauren Stachowiak Faith Wright (Whitehouse) |